YAY! I can’t believe we are a few hours from being en route to Israel. We haven’t been since 2007, and this time, my sister, brother-in-law, and little E are temporary residents – and we’ll all be staying together in our own apartment in Tel Aviv. I am craving that energy of Israel as well as the 24/7 time spent with my family (yep, that’s right) and the two-week vacation I’m so ready for.

Before I go, I’ve been wanting to post some photos from the Stulberg family session (i.e., my sister’s in-laws, although that sounds like they’re more removed from us than they are). We’ll be seeing them in Israel in a few days!

Warning – it’s a long one…

First, I cannot wait to squish this guy tomorrow:

and these three Tel Aviv-ians:

Grandparents Bubbie and Zadie with grandsons Nathan and E:

And just Zadie with his boys (who appear to be annoyed by each other):

Not too long ago, I posted a preview of Marcia’s birthday family session. I’ve now gone through and edited all of their images, and I wanted to share some of my favorites of just the kids. I’ll add more family shots soon, but these three – Cadence, her brother JT, and their cousin Brian – were so super cute they needed their own post.

Cadence, the budding model:

Brian, also not so bad at modeling. I’ve photographed this guy a bunch, and this was the first time I think he really got what was happening. He totally posed for this, leaning to the side and putting his hands in his pockets…

This was a family session meant to be focused more on the larger group and individual families, but when the three little ones got in front of the camera, I couldn’t help it. They were naturals and so much fun. I’d say that I hope I can photograph them again one day, but I know that I will! Brian is a regular. 🙂

Like this:

J and I visited Ben and Shelby King, along with their three awesome kids, Lily, Jeb, and Reed, at their farm yesterday. More photos to come of the family and their amazing farm, but on this rainy, rainy day here in Florida, I wanted to post something bright – and their inspirational and gorgeous blossoms fit the bill.

I think it’s a combination of the black and white and my subjects that inspired me in working with Alexander’s photos. As I mentioned in the preview, Christina loves black and white photography. I rarely get to use black and white so much in sessions with little ones, but it added a dimension that I love… I feel that their images are a journalistic snapshot of their lives together. Not that color photos don’t document moments beautifully, but black and white just manages to tell a story really well – without any distractions. I had fun with the license Christina gave me to go with it for almost all of their photos. Also, both Christina and Brad had ideas of some shots they wanted – and they were flexible to let me guide them as well. Of course, some smiles from Alexander and parental smooches never hurt a photo session, either.

I thought Alexander had some sweet moments alone with his parents, so I created a collection for each:

Alexander and Christina:

Alexander and Brad:

Some of the family and just the little guy:

And my favorite family shot of the session:

Lastly, I found this shot I took of him with E when they were brand new peanuts. At the time, the 2-week age gap seemed so huge… I think they both look very different from their newborn selves but still, of course, ridiculously edible. (I don’t think E even registered that Alexander was right in front of his face. Now he grabs at Alexander and tries to eat him.) 🙂